Python’s strangling of 2 boys in Canada probed TORONTO (AP) — A 100-pound (45-kilogram) python blamed in the strangling deaths of two Canadian boys apparently escaped from its enclosure, slithered through a ventilation system and fell through the ceiling into the room where the young brothers were sleeping, authorities said Tuesday. A snake expert said it was possible that the python was spooked and simply clung to whatever it landed on. Police are treating the deaths in Campbellton, New B...

Official: Cannes diamond heist actually nets $136M PARIS (AP) — Wearing a scarf to mask his face, the gunman sneaked into the posh Cannes hotel and held up a diamond show as three security guards looked on, then fled on foot about a minute later. In the end, he made off with a breathtaking $136 million worth of valuables — the biggest jewelry heist in years, maybe ever. It was a French Riviera robbery that might make Hollywood scriptwriters smile. And it even happened at a hotel that was featu...

’Who am I to judge?’ pope says of gay priests ABOARD THE PAPAL AIRCRAFT (AP) — A remarkably candid Pope Francis struck a conciliatory stance toward gays Monday, saying “who am I to judge” when it comes to the sexual orientation of priests. “We shouldn’t marginalize people for this. They must be integrated into society,” Francis said during an extraordinary 82-minute exchange with reporters aboard his plane returning from his first papal trip, to celebrate World Youth Day in Brazil. “If so...

Pope draws 3M for vigil after chastising ’exodus’ RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Pope Francis drew a reported 3 million flag-waving, rosary-toting faithful to Rio’s Copacabana beach on Saturday for the final evening of World Youth Day, hours after he chastised the Brazilian church for failing to stem the “exodus” of Catholics to evangelical congregations. Francis headed into the final hours of his first international trip riding a remarkable wave of popularity: By the time his open-sided car reached t...

In Egypt bloodshed, dozens of Morsi backers killed CAIRO (AP) — Security forces and armed men clashed with supporters of Egypt’s ousted president early Saturday, killing at least 65 people in mayhem that underscored an increasingly heavy hand against protests demanding Mohammed Morsi’s return to office. In chaotic scenes, pools of blood stained the floor and bodies were lined up under white sheets in a makeshift hospital near the site of the battles in eastern Cairo. Doctors struggled to cope ...

North Korea military parades through Pyongyang PYONGYANG, North Korea (AP) — Goose-stepping soldiers, columns of tanks and a broad array of ominous-looking missiles poised on mobile launchers paraded through Pyongyang’s main square on Saturday in a painstakingly choreographed military pageant intended to strike fear into North Korea’s adversaries and rally its people behind young ruler Kim Jong Un on the 60th anniversary of the armistice that ended the Korean War. The lavish assembly of we...

Rio’s Copacabana stages show for pope RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Pope Francis presided over one of the most solemn rites of the Catholic Church on Friday, a procession re-enacting Christ’s crucifixion that received a Broadway-like treatment befitting its improbable location, Rio’s hedonistic Copacabana beach. Copacabana, which hosts Carnival and Rolling Stones concerts when bikini-clad beauties aren’t sunbathing on its white sands, lived up to its reputation by staging a wildly theatri...

Korean divide lives on 60 years after end of war PANMUNJOM, North Korea (AP) — Some Americans call it the “Forgotten War,” a 1950s conflict fought in a far-off country and so painful that even survivors have tried to erase their memories of it. The North Koreans, however, have not forgotten. Sixty years after the end of the Korean War, the country is marking the milestone anniversary with a massive celebration Saturday for a holiday it calls “Victory Day” — even though the two sides only sig...

Korean War foes gather in NKorea to remember war PYONGYANG, North Korea (AP) — Two decorated U.S. war veterans who survived one of the worst battles of the Korean War found themselves among former foes at a memorial ceremony Thursday as North Korean leader Kim Jong Un launched the country’s commemoration of the war’s end 60 years ago. It’s unusual for American veterans to attend official events surrounding the July 27 war anniversary in North Korea, called “Victory Day” here. The veterans ar...

UN: More 100,000 now dead in Syria’s civil war DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) — The number of dead in Syria’s civil war has passed 100,000, the U.N. chief said Thursday, calling for urgent talks on ending 2 1/2 years of violence even as President Bashar Assad’s government blasted the United States as an unsuitable peace broker. In the latest example of the relentless carnage, a car bomb killed at least 10 people and wounded 66 in a pro-regime, residential area near the capital. All international att...

By George! Britain’s little prince gets a name LONDON (AP) — The little prince was in need of a name, and now, by George, he’s got one. Make that three: George Alexander Louis. The announcement Wednesday that Prince William and his wife, Kate, had selected a moniker steeped in British history came as royal officials said the new parents were seeking quiet family time away from the flashbulbs and frenzy that accompanied the birth of their first child. While the news put to rest intense spec...

Spain passenger train derails, killing at least 40 MADRID (AP) — A passenger train derailed Wednesday night on a curvy stretch of track in northwestern Spain, killing at least 40 people caught inside toppled cars and injuring more than 140 in the country’s worst rail accident in decades, officials said. Bodies were covered in blankets next to the tracks and rescue workers tried to get trapped people out of the train’s cars, with smoke billowing from some of the wreckage. Some passengers were p...

Snowden lawyer: Leaker staying in Russia for now MOSCOW (AP) — National Security Agency leaker Edward Snowden, who fled to Moscow’s airport a month ago, aims to stay in Russia for the near future and learn the country’s culture and language, his lawyer said Wednesday. To get him started, Anatoly Kucherena said he gave Snowden a copy of “Crime and Punishment,” Dostoyevsky’s lengthy novel about the torment and redemption of a man who thought himself outside the law. “I am not talking about the...

Pope urges Catholic faithful to shun materialism APARECIDA, Brazil (AP) — Pope Francis made an emotional plea Wednesday for Roman Catholics to shun materialism in the first public Mass of his initial international trip as pontiff, then met with drug addicts and denounced the “dealers of death” who fuel their suffering. On his first full day of activities in Brazil, Francis traveled from one of the most important shrines in Latin America, Our Lady of Aparecida, to what he called a “shrine of ...

William, Kate, show off their royal newborn son LONDON (AP) — Prince William and his wife Kate presented their newborn son to the world for the first time Tuesday, drawing whoops and wild applause from well-wishers as they revealed the new face of the British monarchy — though not, yet, his name. “We’re still working on a name. So we’ll have that as soon as we can,” William told scores of reporters gathered outside St. Mary’s Hospital as he cradled the child. The young family’s debut public...

Pope wants to be with people; clergy want him safe RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Pope Francis’ decision to shun a major security detail for his visit to Brazil exemplifies his view of what the Roman Catholic Church should be doing: Go out into the streets. Spread the faith. Recapture the dynamism that other denominations have been using to snap up souls. Upon his arrival in Rio de Janeiro this week, that philosophy helped produce a defining vignette of his young papacy: The pope rolling down the windo...

AP Exclusive: NKorea halts rocket launch-pad work SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korea has stopped construction work at a site meant to launch bigger and better long-range rockets, a possible sign that Pyongyang is slowing or even halting development of larger rockets, according to a new analysis of recent satellite imagery. The sight of unfinished roads and grass growing from the foundation of a large new rocket assembly building could be welcome news for Washington and others who see Pyong...

It's a boy! UK's Kate gives birth to royal heir LONDON (AP) — It's a boy! Prince William's wife, Kate, has given birth to a prince who is now third in line to the British throne. The child was born Monday, after many Britons woke up to the news that Kate, also known as the Duchess of Cambridge, had gone into labor with the couple's first child. The birth announcement, via a press release from Kensington Palace, said the boy was born at 4:24 p.m. weighing 8 pounds, 6 ounces. William was pres...

Catholic youths converge on Rio to see “slum pope” BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) — Thousands of young Roman Catholics from around the Americas are converging on Rio de Janeiro, taking dayslong bus trips or expensive plane flights that were paid for by baking cookies and holding garage sales, running raffles and bingo tournaments and even begging for coins in public plazas. Some of the poorest traveled from so-called “misery villages” in Argentina’s capital, thanks to donations from the Buenos A...

Pope seeks Catholic rebirth in land of samba RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — The white sands of Copacabana beach typically draw millions of sun-worshippers, New Year’s Eve revelers and fans for free concerts by the likes of Stevie Wonder and the Rolling Stones. In the coming week, the star of the show is infinitely less flamboyant than Mick Jagger, but he promises to stir up just as much passion among devotees. Pope Francis, the 76-year-old Argentine who became the church’s first pontiff from the ...